Mid-Century Modern Christmas

I love Mid-century modern design. Our living room is decorated with furniture from the 1950s and 1960s, or at the very least furniture that looks like it may have come from that era. This year for Christmas, I decided to decorate the room for Christmas, using mainly mid-century Christmas decorations.

This is the first year our living room has two Christmas trees. I love having a real tree, that I've decorated with vintage Christmas ornaments, but I also really wanted to find a vintage aluminium tree for the room. I've been searching for one for quite some time, but they were either too big, or way too expensive. I finally found a 4 ft tree, at a local antique store, that was priced just right. These trees were popular for a brief time in the 1950s and 1960s, until "A Charlie Brown Christmas" made everyone want a real tree again. Mine is so shiny and sparkly and I just love it.

Quite a few years ago, my brother gave me a set of figurines from the 1964 movie "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". I had two sets that I always set up, one for my office and the other for home. This year, I combined figures from both sets, into one big scene.

I decorated our sideboard with vintage Christmas photographs of my Dad and his siblings, when they were younger. The vintage bowl is filled with vintage glass Christmas ornaments that didn't fit on the tree. The candles are 1950s confetti lucite, in vintage holly candle holders. In front of the radio, are three decorations made by Chris' Aunt Eleanor. They were made out of hollowed out egg shells and decorated with little plastic figures. I'm guessing these were made in the late 1960s or 1970s. I finished off the look with a tray of vintage Christmas cards.

Around the rest of the room, I placed vintage Christmas books and other decorations. The Santa and reindeer picture, on the end table, is an original painting that was most likely a concept for a Christmas card. I'm not sure if it was ever made into an actual card or who the artist was, but I love it. Finally, in an old magazine rack, I've got my collection of vintage Christmas records, which I've enjoyed playing all season long.